The History of the Jews of Rzeszow (cont.)

Chapter 7: The period of Austrian rule, 1772-1848

The annexation of Galicia to the Hapsburg monarchy brought with
it many noticeable changes to the lives of the Jews.
The number of
Jewish residents of Rzeszow reached 3,336 in 1790.
The Austrian
authorities
set up a new administration, as they did in a small number of other Galician
cities.

The Austrian authorities took drastic measures in order to change the
situation of the Jews in a quick period, and to get them used to the new
conditions.
They flooded Galicia, along with its Jews, with a stream
of decrees, directives, and patents[1]that
caused chaos.
However, after a few years, the Austrian bureaucracy
in Vienna, Lvov and other areas of Galicia recognized that it was impossible
to so suddenly enact changes in the lives of the Jews via directives and
patents.
The lot of the Jewish community of Rzeszow would be equivalent
with the lot of the other Jewish communities of Galicia.

In the first patent issued by Baron Fergen concerning the Jews, a census
of the Jews was ordered.
The rabbis and heads of the Jewish communities
were requested to give an exact description of the status of the Jews in
their communities, the communal leadership, and communal enactments.

The community of Rzeszow got used to the new situation with difficulty,
and finally sent a request in 1773 to Vienna asking the authorities to
validate the privileges that had been granted to the owners of the city.
The community was not answered, but they did not waive their request.

In 1782 Vienna issued a decision via a special directive to the governors
of Lvov
regarding the request of the community for the validation
of its privileges.
This directive stated that, due to the fact that
the privileges affect civic relations between the owner of the city and
the Jewish citizens, there is no reason not to be able to continue the
status quo into the future without any need for government certification,
as long as the privileges do not go against the laws of the government.

It is interesting to note that the author Schultz, in describing his
first visit to the territories conquered by the Austrians, refers to Rzeszow
as Little Brody, and notes specifically the profitable mercantile activity
of the Jewish precious stone traders, who conduct business with Vienna,
Stockholm, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Petersburg.
He notes that they
even reached the status of the guardians of the royal signet.

The researcher Bredetzki, who visited Rzeszow at the end of the 18th
century, refers to the city as the Jerusalem of Galicia, however he complains
that the city is dirty.

In 1779, Kiva Yaakov, Mendel Yus and Yehuda Aharon stood at the head
of the community.
They were the elders of the community.
Rabbi
Aharon served as rabbi.

From 1779, the communal registrar was Franz Elshultz, who was previously
the "Dienstefuehrer"[2]of the
infantry.
From May 1, 1785, the treasurers of the Jewish community
of the Rzeszow region were Yosef Klecker with a salary of 200 guilder,
and Franz Elshultz and Franz Bosninger, each with a salary of 200 guilder,
and with an additional salary of 40 florin as Ratichwohl[3]in the regional offices.

In 1773, Reb Wolf Mendel the Jewish Arendatour
of Rzeszow issued a
request, in which he outlined his complaints.

Already from the beginning of Austrian rule, the Jews issued written
complaints about the behavior of the authorities toward them, and in particular
they castigated the Kreis Hauptman[4]Von Rodheim.

Similarly, in 1785, the merchant Hershel Kalman issued a complaint to
Vienna that the Kreis Amt ordered him to give over his best room to his
competitor  to the "colonist".
The response from Vienna was that
he was required to move to the regional office.

In that same year (August 1785), the community requested the government
of Vienna to annul the military mortgage which had been imposed upon it,
and also to decide with regard to the complaints about the unjust taxes
which Prince Lubomirski imposed.
However Vienna decreed that the
matter was under the jurisdiction of Lvov, and should be decided there.

The governor of Lvov decided in September 1785 that the complaints of
the Rzeszow community against Prince Lubomirski should be given to the
Kreiz Amt of Rzeszow for investigation.

The complaints of the community affected the payments that Prince Lubomirski
demanded from the Jews in a crooked manner.
The community requested
that a decree be issued ordering the payment of reparations.

However, the matter was not settled.
On March 29, 1787, Vienna
issued a decree to the governors of Galicia that the complaint by the community
of Rzeszow with regard to the unjust and illegal taxes paid to Prince Lubomirski
was to be accepted under its jurisdiction.

That same month (August 1785), the community complained about the taxes
requested from it in an unjust fashion[5],
and requested that the payments be allowed to be stopped.

However, all of these complaints were in vain, and even the personal
complaints were not answered.

For example, in such a fashion did Wolf Menczel request that Prince
Georg Lubomirski return his home, and repair all the damage that he
caused.
Vienna transmitted his request to the governors of Galicia, and informed
Wolf Menczel of such.
However, it is not clear if his home was returned.

The Jews also turned to the government regarding complaints against
other Jews.
Thus did Danziger turn to the government regarding 600
florin that was owed to him by a Jew of Rzeszow.

On April 19, 1787, Vienna issued an edict to the governors that it was
forbidden for the Jews to purchase homes from Christians that are not built
of hard material.

Jews also requested permission to stockpile mead and beer in their homes
for sale, however these requests were dismissed by Vienna.

A few Jews, such as Moshe Wein of Rzeszow, requested that permission
(and money) be given to them to come to Vienna, in order to present financial
plans to the Kaiser.
Vienna decided that the Kreis Hauptman of Rzeszow
should summon these Jews to him in order to check if there is any substance
to their plans.
In such an event, they should be given payment for
their efforts.

In the meantime, the economic situation of the Jews stagnated and worsened,
due to encroachment in the area of liquor production and serving.

The Jews requested that the taxes of 1772-1773 be annulled due to the
worsening of their financial situation, and due to the general depression
that was caused by the multiple invasions that preceded the partition of
Poland.
However, the government dismissed their request and ordered
that the taxes be collected with full force of the law.
After much
intercession, a reduction of taxes and civic payments was granted in 1775.

In the first tax year of the Austrian era, the head tax was raised to
1 florin, and applied even to children from the age of one.
The Jews
of Galicia paid a sum of 41,178 florin in total.

In 1776 the head tax and tolerance tax was 1 florin per person, and
furthermore, they were required to pay income tax and property tax at the
same rate  however, with an individual rate according to their incomes.
The Jewish leadership determined the allocation of taxes between the
communities,
as well as the amount of various payments that were imposed by the community.

Aside from these payments, the Jews were also required to pay a marriage
tax and a '
toarim tax[6]. It
is understood that all of the communal taxes, including the Korovka, remained
in force, however they came under the jurisdiction of the authorities who
used them to offset the debts of the communities. According to a
decree of the office of the court on August 10 1792, the Jews were also
required to pay general taxes, a lodging tax in lieu of providing quarters
for the army captains, as well as a property tax.

In 1784 the Austrian government wanted to institute a complete reform
in the area of the taxes of the Jews. This was caused by the
misappropriation
and nepotism of a few communities, as well as the unjust allocation of
taxes by the head Jewish administration. For example, when a certain
community  such as Lvov in 1780  did not have the power to fulfill their
tax quote, the head Jewish administration imposed the amount upon the rest
of the communities in that district.

After the passing of the regulations in 1789, the Jews paid a tolerance
tax of 4 guilder per family, a tax on kosher meat (the amount depending
on the type of meat), a marriage tax, a tax on the synagogues and cemeteries
of 100 guilder per year, and a quota
tax of 50 guilder per year.

In 1797 the tolerance tax and the taxes on homes and properties were
repealed, and in their place there was imposed a candle tax of 2 kreitzer
for each Sabbath and festival candle, 6 kreitzer for each yahrzeit candle,
½ kreitzer for each Chanukah candle, and 10 kreitzer for each Yom
Kippur candle. Due to the great tax burden, the communities were
in arrears in their taxes and were in debt to the government for large
sums.

In 1780 the government ordered the seizure of income of the Jews due
to their non-payment of taxes.

In 1788, the Jews of Rzeszow requested along with other communities
 via the Galician Jewish representatives N. Bernstein, Chaim Margolis
and Leibel Meirhoffer  that the Jewish tavern keepers who purchased fields
and built houses be permitted to live in villages until the proclamation
of the new Judenfett-Ent
.

In the meantime, the Jews of Rzeszow turned to the governors with a
complaint against Lubomirski, claiming that he extracted payments by threat
from them that were not owing to him, and that were against the law.
They requested that he be ordered to return the money. Vienna announced
that it would conduct an inquiry about this complaint for a four-week period,
and attempt to verify the reasons. However the matter was not settled,
for in June, 1792, the heads of the community Shmuel Kelerman, Marcus Sheinfeld,
Shlomo Lurberstraus and Izak Romer turned to Vienna with a request to issue
an edict ordering the return to the Jews of Rzeszow the money that was
stolen from them unjustly.

It is difficult to determine from the documents whether the matter was
settled.

The Jews of Rzeszow were required to pay their taxes, and it is important
to point out that any default in tax payment caused the Jews of Rzeszow
to be considered Betel-Juda, that is lacking the rights of sustenance
and livelihood  and they would therefore be open to expulsion from
Galicia.
It is no wonder that the authorities in Lvov and Vienna were flooded with
endless requests to allow the tax payments to be deferred, and also with
complaints about the large sums that the communities were not able to fulfill.

This situation continued for many years, and became more prominent in
1811, when new edicts were issued by the office of the treasury with respect
to the division of taxation by population segment  a matter that increased
the tax burden. The situation was such that even the Galician governors
in Lvov did not hesitate to point out in a special memo to Vienna that
the taxes imposed on the Jews are exaggerated.

The prime occupations of the Jews of Rzeszow in the latter half of the
18th century were: metal refining, leasing of liquor stills and beer
breweries, tavern keeping and owning banquet halls. At the beginning
of the Austrian administration they had difficulties in this area, however
in 1775, the situation changed for the better and the Jews of Rzeszow received
the rights of leasing in return for annual fees.

The lessees insured the continuation of their rights and were careful
that drinks should not be imported from outside the city. The government
forbade the owners of liquor stills and lessees of beer breweries to serve
drinks in their stills or breweries, however they were able to sell their
products in stores that were rented for such a purpose.

The authorities regarded the tavern keepers as the prime obstacle in
the way of the advancement of the status of the farmers. This judgement
severely affected the economic state of the Jews of Rzeszow. The
number of Jewish tavern keepers diminished significantly, however with
the passing of years, Jews returned to the occupation of leasing and tavern
keeping. It is interesting to note that according to a list from
1784, there were only four Christian merchants in Rzeszow, and of these,
only one of whom was in fact a merchant. The businesses of importing
of merchandise from abroad and of exporting of grain within the country
were in the control of the Jews.

Organizational changes were brought about by an edict of Empress Maria
Teresa in 1776. The Jews of Galicia were organized as a unique corpus,
headed by the chief administration of Jews of Galicia. The organization
was hierarchical, with each community headed by anywhere from six to twelve
parnassim (administrators). Each community in a district  Galicia
was divided into six districts, each with its own leadership  stood under
the leadership of the district parnassim. These were overseen by
six country parnassim. The six district parnassim along with the
six country parnassim, headed by the overseer of the country, comprised
the chief administration of the Jews of Galicia.

On March 27, 1782, the administrative system of six districts was abolished,
and eighteen districts were set up in place. Rzeszow then became
its own independent district.

In 1785, the communal organization of 1776 was abolished, and no other
national organization was set up in its place. According to the new
directive, only the local communal parnassim remained, with the exceptions
of the communities of Lvov and Brody, which were headed by seven
parnassim.
The remaining communities, including Rzeszow, were headed by three
parnassim.
The role of the parnassim was to represent the community before the authorities;
to concern themselves with communal affairs; to oversee, along with the
rabbi, the birth, marriage and death registries; to oversee the collection
of communal taxes and the Jewish taxes; and to conduct communal affairs.
The parnassim were dependent on the district government, who regarded them
as subordinate to their authority.

Aside from the communal heads, gabbaim (trustees or administrators)
were appointed for the Beis Midrash, the charities, and hospitals, as well
as appraisers and bookkeepers. On the right hand of the communal
leadership stood a group of officials consisting of the rabbi, judges,
ritual slaughterers, sextons and undertakers. The affairs of the
treasury were conducted by the communal secretary.

The right to vote was given to heads of families who paid the candle
tax for at least seven candles during the prior year. The right to
stand for election was dependent on the payment of candle tax for at least
ten candles, as well as the knowledge of how to read and write German.
Each community elected six officials, and from them three were appointed
to the Kreis Amt.

Aside from the difficult tax burden, many other prohibitions were placed
upon the Jews. The most difficult was the levy on marriages.
Income earners were required to pay a sum ranging from three to thirty
ducats for the marriage of their sons. Whoever would marry off their
sons without a permit from the government was liable to a punishment and
confiscation of property. There was a severe fine even for attending
an illegal wedding.

According to the directive that was issued by Josef II on May 27, 1795,
the remaining communal autonomy was ended, and all national and judicial
privileges were revoked. The taxes were not imposed upon the community
in a collective manner, but rather upon each individual Jew separately,
and the duty of collection was given over to government officials.
The national character was removed from the community, which became a religious
organization only. The rabbinical courts were disbanded by a proclamation
of April 9, 1789, and all the Jews came under the jurisdiction of the government
courts, and with regard to policing issued  under the civic jurisdiction.

In a law of August 28, 1787, the family registration books were established,
and the Jews of Galicia were required to acquire German surnames as of
January. This was supposed to push the Jews toward Germanization.
As a result of this law, the communities and the rabbis were required to
maintain their books and lists only in the German language.

he issue of conscription into the army was a problem in its own right.
On March 18, 1788, the Government issued an edict that required the conscripting
of Jews into the army along with the rest of the residents. The Jews
of Rzeszow did not appear for enlistment, despite the patriotic speeches
of the rabbi. According to a government judgement, 100 enlisted Jews
from the regions of Tarnopol and Rzeszow were freed from service, and sent
to transport service which took place in different areas.

In 1790 the situation eased, the Jews were freed from military enlistment,
and were allowed to discharge their obligation of personal service by paying
30 florin for each basic unit of service. This situation remained
in force until 1804.

In 1804, the obligation of enlistment was imposed upon the Jews of Galicia,
as it was for the Christian population. The choice of monetary payment
in lieu of army service was cancelled, as was the limitation that the Jewish
conscripts were to be only employed in transport service. The new
regulations did set conditions which allowed for exemptions from military
service under certain conditions, such as: the rights of citizenship,
the rights of artisans, as well as merchants who were permit holders.

One of the fundamental enactments that Kaiser Josef II attempted to
introduce into Jewish life in Galicia was the transfer of a portion of
the population to agricultural work. From 1781, the idea arose in
the upper echelons of the government in Vienna that a significant number
of the Jews of Galicia should be transferred to agriculture. The
Kaiser, who was a supporter of physiocratic activity, wished to rescue
the Jews who had lost their livelihood as a result of the ban on the leasing
of taverns by transferring them to agricultural activity. To encourage
this, he decided to reduce the tolerance tax by 50% for the Jewish farmers,
and later, he abolished it completely. In the days of Josef II, the
settling of Jews on government plots began. In an edict of the Kaiser
of July 16, 1786 to the governor of the District of Lvov, an order was
given to begin to settle the dispossessed Jews. However the conditions
were not favorable, due to the dearth of government land, of which there
was only enough for the German settlers who were more important in the
eyes of the government than the Jews. However, the authorities had
no choice but to fulfil the request of the Kaiser, and to begin to establish
Jewish settlements. The Jews received land as well as grain for the
first sowing, however the houses for themselves and barns for their animals
were not built for them. The information about government assistance
for the settlers spread throughout Galicia, and thousands of Jews who had
no other livelihood began to work in agriculture with some difficulty.
These edicts did not affect the Jewish lessees.

The community of Rzeszow was required to provide seventeen families
toward the plan to settle 1,400 Jewish families from all of Galicia in
farming settlements. The community of Rzeszow, along with the rest
of the communities in the District of Rzeszow, was not able to fill this
quota that was imposed upon them in 1792. In a special report, the
governors informed Vienna that the the Jews of the District of Rzeszow
settled on a number of nine families from the city of Rzeszow toward the
quota required for the plan.

The District of Rzeszow included 11 towns: Sedziszow, Tyczyn,
Glogow, Lancut, Zolynia, Przeworsk, Lezajsk, Sokolow, Ulanow, Tarnobrzeg,
and Rozwadow. This District settled 60 families on 41 2/3 plots of
land (including 113 men, 103 women, 59 male children and 83 female
children below the age of 18). These settlers received 60 homes,
60 stables and barns, 60 farming tools, 743 ½ measures of potatoes,
95 horses, 30 oxen, and 131 cows. 38 families still had to be settled
on 28 1/3 plots of land.

From Rzeszow itself, rather than the quota of 17, only 8 families were
settled on eight plots of lands. These families included 12 men,
11 women, 38 male children and only 11 female children below the age of
18.

The required sum to cover the cost of settlement was imposed on the
communities in the district of the settlements. The amount required
to settle one family was 250 guilder. Every 25, 30, or 40 family
heads were required to settle one family.

In 1882, 77 families remained in the farm settlements in the District
of Rzeszow, supported by the community, as well as 9 supported by the
government.
Of 98 families, 86 were finally settled.

In 1785, administrative changed took place in Galicia. The state
was divided into 18 districts, with Rzeszow being the sixth. 11 cities
and towns with Jewish populations were included in the District of Rzeszow.

14 villages were affiliated with Rzeszow, and 204 villages were affiliated
with the other 11 towns of the district. Thus, there were 218 villages
with Jewish populations affiliated with the District of Rzeszow.

According to an edict of May 7, 1789, a district Rabbi (Kreis Rabbiner)
was appointed for each district. In the other places, they were only
allowed to have local rabbis (Religins Veizer) or cantors (Shul Zinger)
only. The Rabbis who were the heads of the communities were appointed
for terms of three years. They were appointed not by members of the local
communities, who were homeowners in their own right, but by all of the
Jews of the district.

The rabbi of the District of Rzeszow received an annual salary of 260
florin. Aside from this salary, he received other payments, for example,
for registering births, marriages and deaths. The payments for these were
according to categories: the first category consisted of farmers,
artisans, middlemen, wagon drivers, tavern keepers, and scrap dealers.
The fee was 7.5 kreitzer.

The second category consisted of officials, physicians, surgeons, rabbis
and sextons  the fee was 15 kreitzer. The third category consisted
of businessmen, owners of leases, factory owners, and wealthy people 
the fee was 30 kreitzer. The rabbi was exempt from the communal tax,
however in the event that his wife or dependants conducted any business
activities, he had to pay the regular tax for that business. According
to the law, the rabbi was forbidden to request gifts or special payment
for marriages or divorces. Aside from the district rabbi, Rzeszow
also had a local rabbi with a salary of 120 florin per year. The
rabbi of Tarnobrzeg received a salary of 20 florin; of Lancut 200 florin;
of Glogow 150; of Lezajsk and Sokolow, 100 florin. The rabbis
of Zolynia, Rozwadow, Sedziszow and Ulanow did not receive any salary;
rather they supported themselves from the gifts they received.

The duties of the district rabbi were to oversee religious affairs;
to maintain the birth, death and marriage registers in German; to
oversee the clergy, cantors and sextons; to issue excommunication
decrees according to the directions of the government; and to administer
oaths to people on political matters in the synagogue. Any excommunication
under any other authority was strictly forbidden.

In 1789, a census took place in Galicia. However, we only have
the information in our hands about the Jewish population in each district,
without it being broken down by city. The District of Rzeszow with
its 11 communities had a population of 193,256 Christians and 11,377 Jews.

The census information is missing facts about the breakdown by profession
and business. From various government reports we learn that the Jews
of Rzeszow were occupied in business and the precious metal trade, aside
from tavern keeping. Aside from a small number of merchants and
wholesalers,
most of them were retailers, peddlers, and middlemen. Very few were
appointed as army suppliers. A significant number of Jews were artisans,
for the most part, tailors, furriers, upholsterers, glassmakers, engravers,
bookbinders, vegetable farmers, and dairy farmers.

According to the regulations set for the Jews by Josef II in 1789, every
community, including small towns, was required to maintain a public elementary
school. In the larger communities, the normal school was patterned
after the public schools. The language of instruction in every school
was German. The official name of these schools was German Jewish School, or Jewish German School. Until 1792, there were only schools
for boys. The elementary school had only one class, and the normal
school had three classes with two teachers and a principal. The public
schools were complete, that is with four classes, and a larger number of
teachers.

This law forbade any Jewish child from learning Gemara until he finished
his education in the beginners public school. These schools were
founded with money from Jews, however they were not overseen by the communities,
but rather by the government. The chief overseer who was appointed
to oversee all of the Jewish schools in Galicia was a disciple of Moses
Mendelsohn  Hertz Homberg. The first teachers were from among the
maskilim who knew German, primarily from Bohemia and Moravia. A seminary
for Jewish teachers was established in Lvov to train teachers. The
first school in Rzeszow was founded in 1785. The teacher was Jonas
Tausig, and later he received an assistant by the name of Mett. The
annual salary of a teacher in Rzeszow was 200 florin, and the salary of
his assistant was 50 florin.

In 1802, the Jews of Rzeszow paid a sum of 1,692 florin and 6 kreitzer
in salaries for the teachers of the German Jewish schools.

From the other communities in the District of Rzeszow, there were schools
in: Glogow  the teacher was Fabian Elkin with a salary of 200
florin;
Sedziszow  the teacher was Efraim Geier with a salary of 150 florin;
Lancut  the teacher was Shlomo Oestreicher with a salary of 200 florin;
Lezajsk  Nathan Kinderfreind with a salary of 200 florin; Przeworsk
 David Bonza with a salary of 200 florin and an assistant Hamburger with
a salary of 50 florin; Rozwadow  David Lichman with a salary of
200 florin; Ulanow, Dzikow, Tyczyn and Zolynia did not have schools
due to a lack of teachers.

Photo on page 51  Chicken market

In 1788, the community submitted a request to defer for two years the
actualization of the edict that forbade the employment of officials who
did not know the German language; that they should be allowed to
educate Jewish children for two hours a day in secular subjects and spend
the rest of the time on religion and Talmud; and that they should be allowed
to appoint teachers of religion in the schools under the authority of the
rabbi.

This request was given to Vienna, in order to be adjudicated according
to the laws of the land.

In 1806, the network of Jewish schools was liquidated.

Louis Bernhard was employed as a registrar of the official treasury,
with an annual salary of 350 florin.

In 1790, the community of Rzeszow was required to pay a protection tax
of 8,400 florin (Schutzsteuer), and an additional tax (Beitrag) of
2,100 florin, for a total of 10,500 florin. The community sent 6,027
florin for the protection tax and 1,506 florin for the additional tax toward
these accounts, for a total of 7,533 florin. The debt of 2,373 florin
remained for the protection tax, and 5,94 for the additional tax, for a
total of 2,967 florin.

In the middle of the 18th century, the population of Rzeszow, including
Jews, was about 3,000. According to the census of 1790, the entire
District of Rzeszow had 2,100 Jewish families. In the city of Rzeszow
itself, there were 327 houses, 453 Christian families (1,687 people), and
380 Jewish families (1,640 people), for a total population of 3,327[7].

In 1821, the population of the district was 227,780 Christians and 11,936
Jews. In 1826, there were 246,116 Christians and 14,067 Jews.
In 1827, there were 265,182 Christians and 14,789 Jews. From the
years 1798-1827, it is important to note the increase of Jewish population
of 3,412 people. In 1828, the Jews owned more than one half of the
houses in the city.

In 1790, in addition to the city itself, the following towns belonged
to Rzeszow: Staromiescie along with Mielec, Staroniwa along with
Wygnaniec, Drabinianka, Powitno, Malawa along with Wielka Wies, Krasne
along with Wulka.

Photo on page 52 - fruit and vegetable stands

In 1849, there were 2,407 Jewish families in the District of Rzeszow
(including 80 farming families), from a total of 44,122 Jewish families
in all of Galicia (including 1,184 farming families).

The Jews of Rzeszow entered a difficult economic period in the 19th
century. They amassed large debts due to the tax on meat and Sabbath
candles, in addition to large debts due to the fees on the national deficit
which was imposed on the Jews. The government also cancelled most
of the privileges which were in the hands of the Jews.

In the years 1819-1820, the government raised the levels of taxes
significantly.
The communities in Galicia, including Rzeszow, presented requests to lower
the taxes that were imposed upon them, due to the economic impoverishment.
They pointed out that the lessees of the meat and candle taxes were burdening
the lives of the population. The governor also recognized the justness
of this request, for they knew very well of the economic difficulties and
the struggle for livelihood which affected most of the Jews, and they attempted
to intercede to waive the supplementary tax (ergentzungs steuer) for the
community. The governor pointed out in particular that the situation
of the taxes and their collection would not improve unless the relationship
between the amount of taxes and the income of the taxpayers was fixed.
The governor claimed at this time that the conditions and relationships
between the masses and the tax lessees should be changed.

The governor recommended in July 1823 the abolishment of the candle
tax, the completion tax, and the special tax (extra steuer), however Vienna
insisted that all of the taxes upon the Jews should remain in place until
the tax revision is complete. They reasoned that the blame for
the situation with the taxes lies with the Jewish tax collectors who leased
the taxes, and they advised that the collection of taxes be transferred
to the local authorities. The district governors were asked to give
their opinion about this.

According to the census, in 1820 there were in Rzeszow: 228 storekeepers
from among 3,073 Jewish storekeepers in all of Galicia; [8]cloth
merchants; 50 precious stone dealers; a fancy good dealer;
and 6 merchants of pots. In the entire district there were 628 Jewish
merchants. Aside from the small and medium scale merchants, there
were 93 wholesalers, of which 89 were Jews. Aside from these, there
were 104 liquor distillers, 20 tailors, 1 mead brewer, and 2
administrators.
Of the first engravers and compounders in all of Galicia, most were in
Rzeszow. Of the 11 beret makers in all of Galicia, a few were in
Rzeszow. There were 4 smiths, 4 coral shapers, 3 makers of metal plate,
as well as the only boat makers in Galicia.

In 1821, the issue of the Jewish mode of dress came to the fore.
The code of Kaiser Josef II, paragraph 47, already required the Jews of
Galicia, with the exception of rabbis, to change their traditional clothing,
which distinguished them from the rest of the population, by 1794.
However, due to the opposition of the Jews, this edict was never put into
force.

Between 1816-1820, the central government in Vienna was working on another
Jewish code of rules. With regards to this, the question arose as
to whether it is desirable to forbid the Jews, by force of law, from wearing
their traditional clothing. The chief governor of Galicia, Baron
Hauer, recommended instituting a clear ban on the Jewish dress. He
also had the support of many groups of Jewish maskilim. However,
when the government wished to act on his advice, an opposition movement
awakened within the Jewish population.

The community of Rzeszow also registered its opposition. It turned
to the government and requested that it not forbid the traditional Jewish
mode of dress for economic reasons, since the change of wardrobe would
impose additional expenditures upon the Jews, which would have a negative
impact on the income from the meat tax. In addition, they claimed
that there would be a great deal of merchandise in the warehouses of the
cloth wholesalers that would go to waste, and that the material that was
required for the German mode of dress would become more expensive.
Apparently, this complaint was well organized, since other communities
presented letters of request that gave similar reasons.

In April 1821 the response came from Vienna that the change of the Jewish
mode of dress in Bohemia and Moravia did not reduce the income from the
meat tax. However this did not close the matter. Through the
efforts of the communities of Galicia, merchants, furriers, and even Christian
textile and silk factory owners from Austria presented petitions, in which
they pointed out the material damage that would cause to the Jewish
manufacturers
and merchants. These reasons influenced Vienna, and the recommendation
of the Galician governors was not heeded, and was put off temporarily.

At the same time, Hassidism began its publicity in most of the Galician
communities, including Rzeszow.

The number of Hassidim in Rzeszow at the beginning of the movement as
very small, and did not influence the life of the community. They
were from among the students of Elimelech of Lizhensk[9],
who was known as the father of Hassidism in Galicia. His book Noam Elimelech
became very widespread, and influenced heavily the spiritual
character of the Hassidim of western Galicia.

The heads of the community, especially the rabbis, were opponents of
Hassidism (misnagdim), and due to their influence, the orthodox people
did not join this movement. The influence of Hassidism grew only
in the smaller towns in the vicinity of Rzeszow.

The enlightenment (haskala) also did not have much influence at this
time among the Jewish youth, as it did in eastern Galicia (in Brody, Lvov,
Zolochev, Tarnopol and Tysmienica).

On June 26, 1843, the city suffered from a fire that broke out at night
in an inn, and from there spread to Neistadt (the new city). In one
house, a Jewish family with five members was burnt. Two large synagogues
and two small synagogues, the Beis Midrash, the communal headquarters in
which the rabbi lived, and the hospital were all burnt to the ground.
This included the well-known synagogue in Neistadt, as well as 32 Torah
scrolls. The head of the district Tadeus Von Lederer immediately
organized an assistance operation. Clothing, food, and monetary donations
arrived in the city. The city doctor Dr. Wilhelm Turteltaub, the
son of the town council member Moritz Turteltaub, organized a theatrical
production five days after the fire with the assistance of a theatre group
that remained in the city. The two performances brought in 450
guilder.
The Kaiser honored Dr. Turteltaub and the pharmacy owner Edward Heibel
with gold medallions. The humorist Sapir also gave over the revenue
from his performance of 327 florin. The community turned to Shlomo
Von Rothschild, who donated 2,000 guilder. From that sum, 250 florin
were given to Rabbi Yechezkel Blumenfeld. Anselm Rothschild gave
1,000 guilder of his own money.

The group for the political and literary advancement of the Jews
in
Stanislawow was the first that turned to all of the communities of Galicia,
in February 1848, with a request to send to the Jewish representatives
to the Austrian government statistics about the number of Jews, the taxes
which they pay, and also the amounts that they pay to the local government.

The community of Rzeszow also received this request, and was requested
to give the statistical information to the Jewish representative.

In a meeting of September 26, 1848, the representative Manheimer spoke
in the parliament, and requested in a forceful manner that the Jewish meat
and candle taxes be abolished. In a vote of 243 to 20 on October
6, the decision was made to abolish these taxes.

Along with the rest of the communities, the Jews of Rzeszow signed a
petition to parliament that was made through the efforts of the teacher
Reitman of Tarnopol. During time of prayers in the synagogue, the
teacher Dachtelbaum gave an enthusiastic speech regarding equal
rights.
However, even with the hope that the community placed in the events of
1848, and the spirit of freedom which they indicated, the Jews of Rzeszow
remained faithful to tradition, and were not interested in the changes
in their lives and in the life of the community according to the mode of
the times, and the awakening of the maskilim. The movement toward
a progressive basis had barely taken hold in the community, as it did in
Brody, Tarnopol and Lvov, where the enlightened people and independent
professionals conducted communal affairs.

There were no recognizable changes in the life of the community prior
to 1848. As in other communities of Galicia, life continued on its
normal path.

In 1847, when the heads of communities of Galicia met to present a petition
to the government on the sorry state of the Jews, the representative from
Rzeszow did not participate. On account of the ban on sending a collective
petition on behalf of all the communities, it was decided that each community
send its own petition. Unlike Lvov, Brody, Tarnopol, Stanislawow,
Sambor, and Stryy, Rzeszow did not send out such a petition. In the
realm of the haskala as well, we do not hear much about Rzeszow.
In an expert report in the Algemeine Zeitung Das Yudentum
(General
Newspaper of Judaism), on the state on the Jews in Galicia, it is specifically
noted that the Jews of Zolochev, Tarnopol, Brody, Zolochev, Sambor, Przemysl,
Lvov, Jaroslaw, Tarnow, and Halica were very much influenced by the Jewish
haskala, but there is not one word about Rzeszow. Only in 1848 did
a recognizable change come to Rzeszow. At the time of the prayers
in the synagogue, the teacher Dachtelbaum gave an enthusiastic speech about
the change of rights for the Jews.

The revolution of 1848, which brought national changes throughout Austria
and put an end to the harsh guard of Meternich, awakened many hopes also
from within the Jews for a better future in all aspects. Along with
the other communities, the Jews of Rzeszow signed a petition to the parliament,
which was designed through the efforts of the teacher Reitman of Tarnopol.

Photo on page 54 A section of Mickiewicz Street. Photo by A. Katzizna.

9. Elsewhere in this translation, I have used the Polish spelling Lezajsk
for this community, but in this context, I use the Jewish phonetic spelling,
which is commonly used in literature when referring to Rabbi Elimelech
of Lizhensk. Back

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